Kenya should declare lack of curiosity a national disaster

Of all the national problems facing our young nation today, none is bigger and more ominous than the death of curiosity.

I might appear pessimistic, but the truth is we are no longer curious. I see that not just in classrooms, but on the streets and in meetings. We are no longer interested in exploration; we are too quick to get satisfied with the status quo.

Some could argue that it is the price we pay for the advent of the Internet and mobile phones; we can get any information that we want without struggling.

Compare this with researchers 50 years ago when there was no Internet. Yet, curiously, they did a better job. These days, scholars and pseudo-scholars simply copy and paste ideas without contextualising them, leading to knowledge that has little value.

FEW CHALLENGES

But it goes beyond the Internet; we do not teach our children early in life the joy of exploration. We are too quick to show them how to do everything.

I recall my parents leaving me to figure out how to do things, from milking cows to making toys. Parents these days feel that their kids should not struggle when they are young as they will struggle later in life.

I am amazed at the number of parents who visit the university to check on how their kids are doing in school. When I talk to them, they tell me that they are just concerned parents. There are those who will even collect admission application forms for their kids, yet doing such things is part of the learning experience.

When these children grow up, the parents will go ahead and organise weddings for them, including sending invitations and providing funding. By the time young people are adults, they have learnt to be dependent on their parents; they have learnt other people can be curious on their behalf.

School is not helping matters. Teachers want to be popular, so they make life easier for students — I know of a lecturer who brought examples given in class in an exam.

We do not challenge students to explore. Instead of giving them instructions on how to carry out experiments, why not just give them the apparatus and let them design the experiment?

Students get annoyed if exam questions go beyond the notes given in class because most don’t read — they are not curious. High school teachers can tell me when they last saw a student carrying the day’s newspapers when reporting for a new term....

Add schooling to our traditional cultures that frown on asking questions or challenging the status quo, and you see the need to write an obituary for curiosity.

Kenya registers fewer patents than most multinational corporations. Seen how old jokes are circulated on the net? Listen to our conversations; we only brighten up if they are about politics, sex, relationships or pure gossip. When they are about science, technology or issues that demand thought, we shy off. We love reducing ourselves to the lowest intellectual denominator.

We are rarely curious enough to look for solutions to the issues affecting this nation, but prefer to copy and paste. We could not even get local names for our Cabinet secretaries or governors, preferring names that have been in use for 200 years. Our Constitution would have been better if there was less copying, more curiosity.

UNSOLVED PROBLEMS

Curious people do more research before they arrive at a decision; we prefer emotions. Why else have our problems remained unsolved for 50 years?

Consider these examples: we de-fanged the chief and are now complaining about insecurity; we abolished technical work in secondary school, we are crying about joblessness; we grabbed land meant for sports, we are crying as our kids take drugs.

We are complaining that our MCAs are travelling abroad. They are unlikely to be driven by curiosity; they have not learnt enough about their localities. If going abroad were important, we would be further ahead economically — after all, founding President Jomo Kenyatta spent years there, as did former President Kibaki and President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Travelling abroad may not make much of a difference because no country is like any other. If we were curious enough, we would solve our problems using local solutions.

What can we do to make Kenyans curious?

Maybe it is time we started rewarding curious minds, people who come up with innovative ideas.

I was impressed to see US President Obama with young kids during a science fair at the White House. In Kenya, presidents are never seen in science fairs, called Science Congress, but you will find them in drama festivals, again, down to the lowest denominator. Dancing does not require as much curiosity as looking for a cure for cancer.

We copy everything from the West, including our names. I’m amazed by the efforts parents put in getting exotic names for their kids, only to arrive at Brian or Ryan.

Competitive edge

Parents must make children curious by challenging them to do basic things, and schools must go beyond recalling knowledge to analysing and synthesising it, which is harder to do but more rewarding in the long run.

Our curious minds, be they writers, scientists or comedians, should be rewarded so that the next generations can see the value in being curious.

A nation without curiosity rarely innovates, and it becomes a dumping ground for old, tired ideas and products; it loses its competitive edge. Innovations driven by curiosity drive economic growth.

Maybe we should borrow from the poet TS Elliot who once said: “We shall not cease from exploration. And the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time.”

If you are curious, you will find out what this poet meant.

The writer is senior lecturer, School of Business, University of Nairobi. [email protected]